Monday, October 24, 2011

The Lost Steffen Brothers Review

The process of writing this blog means that I always have stories and ideas on various burners in different stages of completion.  These blog posts are stored in draft form on Blogger, various emails, folders on a couple different desktops, and from time to time a post gets lost in the stream of things.  This is one of those posts.

This past June photographer Gregg Barckholtz organized and hosted the Glass-A-Hex Gathering in northern Michigan and the week after sent a stack of photos that he had taken in his studio along with a few notes on the Steffen Brothers demos that had been sent for the event. 


Gregory wrote...  "Smooth is the best word to describe the demos that were sent and the eight foot four weight was hands down the champion of "Oooohs" at the Hex-A-Glass Gathering.

The 7'6" 2/3 had a three weight 444 double taper on it and it was a pure delight to cast.  Yes, the wind messed with it just a little and that is where the eight foot four weight took things one step further.  Better line control and just the perfect weight line for a fishing cast.  Any river, any size, even with just a little wind, was just a pure delight to cast.

The biggest thing was the comments on him as a business man.  Not one negative thing.  You can not gush to much over this guy's work.  I spoke with his wife yesterday and she even had only praise for him.  What a man!

I have put in my order for two eight foot four weights.  Both my brother-in-law and myself left there just raving about his whole line up of fly rods.

Mark Steffen's fly rods need just a touch more of sexy to take them over the top.  Not that it will make them cast any better but it could give them a little more eye appeal.

I have never cast a fly rod over 7'6" that I liked until that eight foot 3/4 weight.  I like the eight foot 5/6 weight, but I guess that is just not my style.

I have a little arthritis building in the right hand from carrying to many cameras with big glass lenses so I like my rods light to the hand."





Fine report and I completely agree on his assessment on the Steffen 8' 3/4 weight.  One of the nicest fly rods I've ever cast.

3 comments:

helling said...

Looks like a sweet rod!

Nikolas C. said...

Best rods I've ever laid my hands on! I've had the pleasure of fishing both an 8' 4-5wt, as well as an 8'3" 5-6 wt. Amazing is the thought that comes to mind first. I absolutely love these rods!

Cameron Mortenson said...

Nikolas... Do you have a 8' 3/4 weight? Put that one next on your list. They are absolutely some of the greatest tapers out there.